Home Away From Home

The U.S. Embassy in Switzerland embraces the foreign neutrality policy that is designed to promote peace and lessen security. The Embassy explores how this neutrality can be represented in spatial gestures of welcomeness to manifest transparency and human connection.

The embassy’s programs are split into chunks that are fixed together like a puzzle piece, and can be accessed through individual entrances on all sides of the building. The embassy creates a welcoming atmosphere through transparency and honesty in the architecture itself; starting with the facade. The building form is a nod to the standard vernacular houses lining the surrounding neighborhoods in Bern, Switzerland. The domestic form creates transparency through its unique window gestures, allowing visitors welcoming views inside, while also capturing framed moments in time of Bern.

Like its predecessor, the new embassy also engages with the public through academic and social programs, and the building reflects this by housing a lecture hall, library, classrooms, and a cafe. The embassy truly takes on the role of a home, becoming a “living room,” a common space for gathering, conversing, and relaxing.

Taubman College of Architecture // Autumn 2022 // Instructor: Julia McMorrough
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